"Making This Faith Our Own"

A Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett

For the Baptism of Levi Patterson Bachman (and Holy Humor Sunday)

Preached at Pleasantville United Church of Christ, May 1, 2011

John 20:19-31

“But Thomas...said... ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’”
(John 20:24-25)

Dear Levi,

When my son, Sam, was baptized the minister gave him a letter.  It was a sermon, actually, and being 5 months old at the time I’m not sure Sam was able to take it all in.  But it stayed with me, so today you are going to get the letter.

But first, there’s this:

(ping)

A Baptist preacher and a priest sat next to each other on a plane. When the flight attendant asked what they'd like to drink, the priest said he'd like a glass of wine. The preacher asked for a soft drink saying Christians should avoid alcohol. The priest said, "Jesus drank wine." The Baptist said, "I know and I would have thought a lot more of Him if he hadn't."

§          §          §

I hope you like jokes, Levi, because today is Holy Humor Sunday and since you’ve never been with us before on this occasion I feel I need to tell you it isn’t something that we made up just so we could tell bad jokes from the pulpit. 

The Christian Church has been practicing Holy Humor Sunday for centuries. Early church theologians called it, "Risus paschalis - the Easter laugh."  Here at Pleasantville, it’s a playful way for us to rejoice over the Resurrection – and it gives some of those people out there an excuse to send me good jokes – and not so good jokes -- throughout the year.

(ping)

How many church choir directors does it take to screw in a light bulb?
No one knows, because no one was paying attention.

§          §          §

All joking aside, Levi, this is your day; the day of your baptism.  It’s a very important day in your life because today you have formally entered into the Christian family of faith.  People all over the world and from all different religions have their own ways of welcoming the littlest ones among them.  As Christians our welcome comes with some particular promises and some particular challenges.

A Word about Rebirth

            Levi, the first promise that we make to you in baptism is a promise about rebirth. It may seem odd to you now to speak about rebirth since your own birth is not that far past.  But this notion of rebirth will become more and more useful to you as you get older.

You see, the waters of baptism are – in some ways -- like the water you were swimming around in before you were born.  And when we mark you with the sign of the cross with this water, we are celebrating your birth in a new way. 

Today we celebrate your birth as a new Christian and we pray that, as you grow, you will become more and more like Jesus with each passing year.  Trust me: this is no easy task.  That’s why it takes a long time – our whole lives in fact.

In the early church those who were baptized were adults.  They spent a long time preparing for baptism through instruction and prayer and fasting. And when the time came for their actual baptism, they went down to the river, took off all their clothes, and then -- naked as a jaybird -- they were completely submersed in water.  And when they came up out of the water they put on a white garment which signified putting on a new identity.  They ‘put on the garment of Christ.’ 

In baptism they took off their old self, washed themselves clean, and then put on a new self.  That is what it means to be "in Christ."  That is what it means to be a new creation.  That is the symbolic power of baptism.

Now of course you, Levi, are still growing into yourself – so taking off your old self may seem kind of strange.  But as you get older you’re gonna’ make some mistakes.  It happens.  And some of your mistakes are going to feel so big and so ugly that you just want to be able to change who you are so you can do it differently next time. 

You see that’s where the whole baptism thing can be wonderful because, in Christ, we become a new creation.  In Christ we take off the old self and we put on a new one.  And this self that we put on in baptism, is the identity of one who is striving to become more and more like Christ.  We become imitators of Christ.

We don’t get it right all the time.  In fact, a lot of times we get it wrong.  But being baptized into Christ, we know that we’re aiming for something.  We are aiming to become more and more like Him.  The Apostle, Paul, put it this way:“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:1-5).

 (ping)

Jesus took a Unitarian out fishing and the Unitarian accidentally dropped an oar and watched it float away. Jesus stepped out of the boat, walked across the water to the oar, grabbed it, and walked back to the boat. The next day, a friend asked the Unitarian if he had enjoyed fishing with the Lord. "It was okay, but would you believe that guy can't swim?"

§          §          §

A Word about Belonging

The second promise we make to you in baptism is a promise about belonging.  You were baptized here in the middle of our worship service so we could make promises to you.  We promise to do everything in our power to protect you and nurture you and help you grow into your full stature in Christ.

It's not easy to grow into your full stature in Christ.  It isn't easy for any of us and it probably won't be easy for you.  It's not easy to be parents helping their children grow into their full stature in Christ either.  They have to figure out when it's important to hover and when it’s important to back off.  They have to figure out when it's important to catch you and when it's important to let you fall.  And all of those decisions require help and support.

One of the things I like best about belonging to a community of faith is knowing that I never have to make these hard decisions by myself anymore.  I don’t ever have to do the hardest things by myself ever again.  Of course, there are some things that only you can do.  But, it's a lot easier to do those things with the help, support, and guidance of people who recognize their responsibility to one another.

The funny thing about belonging to a people, who know they belong to God, is that everything we do together helps us grow.  For instance, this morning you were baptized.  But as you were baptized, all of us were reminded of our own baptisms.  We saw you be born anew, washed in the waters of grace, and we were reminded that we are too! That is what it means to belong to a community.  We learn from one another.  We suffer with one another.  We rejoice with one another.  It's a mysterious and awesome relationship.

A Word about Responsibility

(ping)

A Jewish Grandmother loses her grandson at the beach when a big wave sweeps him out to sea.

The Grandmother immediately drops to her knees in the sand and prays to God for the return of her grandson.  "Please G_d, I have always been a good person, a good Jew and a loving Grandmother; please return my grandson to me."

Just as she finishes her prayer, a huge wave crashes back on the beach, returning the young boy to his Grandmother's side.

The Grandmother begins to cry and hugs her grandson, overcome with joy and gratitude.  Then she looks once more at her grandson and looks back at the sky yelling, "He had a hat!!!"

§          §          §

Levi, the third promise of baptism is not only a promise but also a challenge.  Something else comes with the promise of belonging to the Christian community, and that is responsibility.  You will be called to that as well.

The Christian community is called to some pretty challenging tasks.  As Christians, we are taught and expected to value the fellowship of other Christians. We are encouraged to extend ourselves for one another.  We are expected to be inconvenienced for one another because to do so builds up the Body of Christ.  We are to do nothing that tears down the Body.  We are even taught to put the needs of the community before our own sometimes.

There aren’t very many places in our culture where you’ll get support for this kind of behavior. Mostly, people do what they think is best for themselves and they don’t really care about the consequences.  As a matter of fact, you’ll find as you grow that sometimes people think that being a strong person means getting your way all the time.  But our life in Christ teaches us another way. 

Henry Nouwen was a great spiritual teacher who wrote many books and changed many lives.  And he said that being a Christian means being “downwardly mobile.”  He said that the longer you are Christian and the more deeply you grow into your full stature in Christ, the closer to the ground you will live.  The more humble you will be.  The more deeply you enter into your Christian journey, the more comfortable you will be with simple things and small accomplishments and not being important. 

The secular culture that you are growing up in will try to teach you that it’s important to be upwardly mobile.  It’s something we say in order to get people to buy things they don’t need.  But a life lived in ever-deepening Christian discipleship will teach you how to be “downwardly mobile” and if you keep at it, you’ll find that it’s wonderfully freeing.

I don’t know if you were listening, but the scripture reading for this morning was about a young man named, Thomas, who found it difficult to believe in a miracle.  He needed more than somebody else’s word that something unbelievable had actually occurred.  He needed to see for himself.

Sometimes Thomas gets a bad rap.  Because sometimes people think he should have simply believed without requiring any kind of proof at all.  Personally, I like Thomas.  I can relate to him.

Levi, you’re gonna’ find that faith in God is not always easy.  There are a lot of sad things in this world, and you’ll hear about them. There are a lot of things that aren’t right – and hopefully you’ll help us make some changes.  But what I like about this faith of ours – especially here in the United Church of Christ – is that we are called to make this faith our own. It’s gotta’ be ours.  It’s gotta’ be yours, Levi.  Not right now.  Not today. For today, we’ll make promises for you. But as you grow older, there will come a time when you’re going to have to make promises of your own.  And when that time comes, it will part of what it means to make this faith your own.

I know I’ve given you a lot to think about.  But the watch words are these:  Rebirth. Belonging.  Responsibility.  These are the promises of baptism.  They are the costs and the joys of discipleship.  And they are they are our hopes and our dreams for you as you make this faith your own.

May this day be a day of new beginnings, for you, for us, and for all those whom Christ loves.  Amen.